Does anyone know where I can find English instruction manuals for the Dragon Slayer games? I tried to play Xanadu just now, but for some reason it won't let me equip weapons and thus, I have no idea how I'm supposed to fight monsters (I run up to them and press the space bar, but it just keeps saying "Failed!"

I tried to equip weapons... I found out that the function for that is the E key, but for some reason when I pick W (for Weapon) it just says "Weapon -Not owned!" even though my inventory clearly states I own a dagger.

If I recall correctly, you must run up against them to use your dagger. You only need to press the space bar if you have special weapons like the Needle or Deluge.
The reason why it says "Weapon - Not owned!" is because the dagger is the default weapon. You are already using it, so it does not appear in the Weapon list.

Btw, Xanadu is a great game. You should definitely finish it! However, it is not an easy game. Be sure to keep an eye on your KRM point (Criminal points). KRM points can raise by slaying certain enemies. KRM points are bad, because they'll deny you access to Temples. This way, you wont get a higher level. You can decrease the KRM by using Poison. I got stuck near the end of the game, because of KRM points. I couldn't get enough Poison to get rid of them, so I had to start all over again (which I didn't do, eventually got so frustrated ;-))
Anyway, it's a great game and several walktroughs haven been written over the years. I remember a good one in MCM. Can't seem to find one on the net today, tough

If you want to play a kick-ass RPG then definitely try Dragon Slayer VI!!

The English version: www.generation-msx.nl/msxdb/translations

Walkthrough: www.generation-msx.nl/cheats/solve/drslyr6e.txt

KRM stands for KaRMa, I believe...

[... /me is grabbing the Xanadu game box+manual to verify this...]

Yup! The kana says 'Karuma', so it's most likely karma

[edit]Yea, DS VI: Legend Of Heroes is most definately one of the best RPGs ever made! Check out the MSX-Music BGMs! They're *SO* great![/edit]

About DS6, Legend of Heroes: We (Rikusu, some other guy and me) finished te game in a litte longer than 14 hours. The gameplay showed 12.5 hours, the other one and a half was loading time during the whole game.

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About DS6, Legend of Heroes: We (Rikusu, some other guy and me) finished te game in a litte longer than 14 hours. The gameplay showed 12.5 hours, the other one and a half was loading time during the whole game.

What do you think of the Pirate's Nest BGM? Tis just great! There are no words to describe it, really
I must say, 14 hours is pretty fast... Although I have the original, I prefer playing the translated one. Too bad it has several bugs on it...

Heh. Actually I picked up Xanadu because I was already familiar with the Dragon Slayer games through the fourth game in the series (which came out in America for the Nintendo Entertainment System, under the name "Legacy of the Wizard" and I wanted to see it's roots.

I love RPGs though. I'm actually thinking about making a Hydlide fan page (mostly because the first game in the series is given an undeservedly bad rep in the United States by people who couldn't be bothered to learn the controls...)

Cool. I'd love to see it when it's done!

Thanks. May take awhile though, mostly cuz I still need to get/play the English version of Hydlide II. I want my page to cover at least the first three games (unfortunately I'll probably have to skip over Virtual Hydlide for the Saturn, one because I haven't got a Saturn and two because all the available Saturn emulators supposedly suck).

However in the meantime I do have a review of the NES version of the original Hydlide (known in Japan as "Hydlide Special".

http://www.angelfire.com/comics/nes_star/CQuests/Reviews/Hydlide.html

As for Xanadu, I figured out what I was doing wrong in the game... I had, the first time, forgotten to distribute statistics, which had rendered me unable to attack or basically harm the enemies in any way.

I also played Romancia for a bit recently... sadly I didn't care for it as much. It seems like more of a straightforward action game, unlike Xanadu and Dragon Slayer IV (Legacy of the Wizard) which were both more exploration-oriented. It probably doesn't help that I don't know Japanese (yet).

I see you have a screenshot of the MSX1 Hydlide on that page. There is also an MSX2 version, which looks a whole lot better!

Really? I'd like to play it. Does it also add a magic system to this game?

No, but look at them graphics!

Woo, naked fairies on the title screen!

Anyway, recently I just discovered the "Talk" mode in Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness. I've been making judacious use of it... and at one point I got a guard who yelled "Hamachi!!!" Anyone know what "Hamachi" means? None of my dictionaries have it listed.

Among other oddities, there seems to also be a guy who tells me to look for a pair of X's and says something about a dead fern (though I admit I may be mistranslating--I'm still a learner and have to use a dictionary from time to time).

The word "Nyoo" seems to be used a lot, as well. One guy I ran into actually said "Nyo, nyo, nyo!!"

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and at one point I got a guard who yelled "Hamachi!!!" Anyone know what "Hamachi" means?

My dictionary lists it as a type of fish.

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The word "Nyoo" seems to be used a lot, as well. One guy I ran into actually said "Nyo, nyo, nyo!!"

'nyou' means urine, perhaps this guy needs to go to the toilet really badly?

I found that funny too. Also, two guys told me "gomen nyoo." I'm like "Excuse urine?"

I guess we'll never know ^^;
'Nyoo' might as well just be a weird monster-sound. (You are talking to monsters, right?)